Dell 27 Ultrathin monitor and XPS 13 2-in-1 turn heads at CES

Dell has some slim and attractive new devices in its CES 2017 promotional area. The objects of desire currently catching headlines for Dell are the stunningly slim 27 Ultrathin monitor, and the sleek new convertible version of its XPS 13 laptop.

Dell 27 Ultrathin monitor

Dell claims that this monitor has the "world's overall thinnest profile". We don't have the tech specs and the dimensions of the monitor so will have to take Dell's word on that for now. The monitor's 27-inch display uses Dell's InfinityEdge technology for ultra-thin bezels and to reduce the overall monitor size. Even the bottom edge, which is often larger for push button controls or speakers, is very slim.

The QHD (2,560 x 1,440 pixels) panel chosen by Dell supports HDR10, one of the competing high dynamic range colour standards. As such it should provide superbly vibrant and vivid colours when used with devices and content which support it. In other colour quality metrics the Dell 27 Ultrathin (S2718D) can display up to 99 percent of the SRGB gamut.

The Dell 27 Ultrathin monitor will be available in the US from 23rd March priced at $699.

Dell XPS 13 2-in-1

Here is a convertible version of Dell's XPS 13 laptop. Dell boasts that it is "the world’s smallest 13-inch 2-in-1 with battery life up to 15 hours". Again this device features an InfinityEdge display which is HDR10 compatible. Display resolution is QHD+ (3,200x1,800 pixels) and as a 2-in-1 it is, of course, touch sensitive.

Inside you will find Dell has equipped a 7th Gen Intel Core vPro processor, with both i5 and i7 options available. RAM can be configured between 4GB and 16GB, and a 128GB SSD is standard issue.

For ports Dell has equipped an SD card slot and two USB-C ports (a USB-A to USB-C adapter comes in the box). The 720p webcam and fingerprint reader are supported by Windows Hello.

Dell says that the XPS 13 2-in-1 will be available beginning 5th January in the US and worldwide shortly after. US pricing starts at $999.

I'm wondering how HDR10 will even works on PC's, presumably Windows 10 will get some kind of update to switch into HDR mode however even with that, the computer display will still probably require manual switching from sRGB to HDR10.

Hopefully they have already figured all that out and launching a HDR app would auto kick the monitor into HDR10 mode whether your using Displayport or HDMI but I suspect none of that has been done so buying any PC HDR display is a huge risk.

In other colour quality metrics the Dell 27 Ultrathin (S2718D) can display up to 99 percent of the SRGB gamut.

Surely that's a mistake. sRGB is more or less the lowest common denominator in colour spaces. For a monitor being able to handle HDR10 (or anything HDR for that matter) I'd strongly expect it to support something closer to AdobeRGB or DCI-P3 at 99%.